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MU's new 'boss' to push access, excellence

A chain of office is placed around the neck of new Marquette University president Father Scott Pilarz by Mary Ellen Stanek, a member of the Marquette board of trustees, and Father Robert Wild, the outgoing president, at Pilarz's inauguration ceremony Friday at the Al McGuire Center.

Father Scott Pilarz embraces Darren Jackson, of the Marquette Board of Trustees after being installed as the new President of Marquette University at the Al McGuire Center.

Rocker Bruce Springsteen and Father Scott R. Pilarz shared a big day Friday: The Boss marked his 62nd birthday, and the Jesuit priest officially became Marquette University's 23rd president, which the priest quipped was no coincidence.

There are no coincidences in the spiritual life, Pilarz told a rapt audience at the Al McGuire Center.

"So I take it as a work of providence that this inauguration occurs on the birthday of my home state's poet laureate and the man who has long provided inspiration and consolation to many, including me," Pilarz said to applause from students, faculty, alumni and colorfully robed delegates from more than 100 universities and colleges around the country.

"Marquette, baby, we are clearly born to run."

A year after Pilarz was announced as Marquette's next president, he formally accepted the responsibilities from his predecessor, Father Robert A. Wild, in an hours-long ceremony resplendent with pageantry and speeches.

He received two gifts of investiture from Wild: a gold medallion with 21 bronze links, including the official Marquette seal, and an academic mace, topped with the university seal. The priests embraced after Wild handed off the mace, a large stick associated with the dignity of the university and its preservation as a place where all subjects may be explored.

Pilarz, 52, set the tone for his tenure by suggesting two goals he said he had been hearing about "from every corner" of campus for over a year: "access and a new excellence."

Pilarz noted that he was the first in his family to graduate from college.

"Again and again, I have heard from members of the Marquette community how proud we are that nearly 25% of the students we welcomed a few weeks ago are the first in their families to do the same," he said. "This Marquette tradition must continue if we are to be true to our mission. And this will require efforts on our part to provide resources and support."

A commitment to access might seem in tension with the drive to new excellence, he said.

"If it is, it is a tension we must embrace," Pilarz said. "For Marquette to remain authentically Marquette, access and excellence cannot be viewed as an either/or proposition, but rather a both/and situation in order to serve God's glory and future generations of students."

Marquette was the first Catholic university in the world to admit women more than 100 years ago, he said. "Marquette has repeatedly been responsive to the signs of the times and the common good of God's people. Let us pledge together that Marquette will remain so."

While Pilarz has been on campus since Aug. 1, Friday's inauguration allowed the university president to formally introduce himself and humorously acknowledge his family, including his parents, Ron and Joan Pilarz, "who gave me the incomparable gift of a Jesuit college education" and "now work as product placement specialists for the Marquette Spirit Shop."

The inauguration had several personal touches, including an invocation by Sister Patricia Kenny, a high school teacher of the new president, who observed: "We live our whole lives in God's presence, though we may not always be aware of it."

Pilarz concluded his remarks with a return to Springsteen, saying that The Boss' album "The River" was appropriate for Marquette.

"On that album, he sings of the ties that bind. Today we celebrate ties that bind us to this place and to one another, ties that enrich our days and works and ties that ultimately give us evidence of God's grace, active here on the sacred ground at Marquette."

More information online

More information on the inauguration, as well as a full biography of Pilarz, visit www.marquette.edu/inauguration.